Try - Go Port

This is a Go port of Tobi's try script - a tool for managing experiment directories with fuzzy search and smart organization.

My motivation for porting this originally came from the assumption that I would want to add a bunch of features that would be better suited to Go than Ruby, and also to work on some more Go stuff. But so far, the original features have been more than sufficient.

Features

• Interactive TUI with fuzzy search and real-time filtering
• Smart scoring algorithm that considers:
  • Fuzzy match quality
  • Recently used directories (time-based scoring)
  • Directory name length
  • Date-prefixed directories get bonus points
• Git integration:
  • Clone repositories into date-prefixed directories
  • Create git worktrees from existing repositories
• Shell integration for Bash, Zsh, and Fish
• Zero dependencies (except for terminal handling library)

How It Works

Important: This tool prints shell commands to stdout, which are then executed by a shell wrapper function. It does NOT directly create directories or execute git commands itself.

The workflow:

1. You type try redis in your shell
2. The shell wrapper calls ./try cd redis
3. The Go program prints: mkdir -p ~/src/tries/2025-01-15-redis && touch ... && cd ...
4. The shell wrapper executes these commands

Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21 or later
• Unix-like system (macOS, Linux) with terminal support

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/spmurrayzzz/try
cd try
go build -o bin/try try.go

Install shell function

Add to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

eval "$(./try init ~/src/tries)"

For Fish shell, add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

eval (./try init ~/src/tries | string collect)

Usage

Commands

try                    # Browse all experiments
try redis             # Search for redis experiments
try clone <uri>        # Clone git repository
try worktree dir       # Create worktree from current directory
try init [path]        # Generate shell function

Keyboard Shortcuts

• ↑/↓ or Ctrl-P/N/J/K - Navigate
• Enter - Select or create directory
• Backspace - Delete character from search
• Ctrl-D - Delete directory (with confirmation)
• ESC - Cancel
• Type to filter/search

Environment Variables

• TRY_PATH - Override default directory (default: ~/src/tries)

Common Usage Patterns

Creating a new experiment

try                    # Type to search, select "Create new"
try my-experiment     # Creates ~/src/tries/2025-01-15-my-experiment
try . my-name         # From current git repo, creates worktree

Working with git repositories

# Clone a repo into dated directory
try clone https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Create worktree from current repo
try worktree           # Auto-named from current dir
try worktree . my-name  # Custom name

# Create worktree from another repo
try worktree /path/to/repo custom-name

Troubleshooting

"Command not found" errors

Make sure you've added the shell function to your profile and reloaded it:

source ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Git worktree not created

Check that:

1. You're in a git repository (git status works)
2. You're using correct syntax: try worktree . name not try worktree name
3. The directory doesn't already exist

Interactive mode not working

Ensure you're running in a terminal with TTY support. The tool requires an interactive terminal.

Differences from Ruby Version

1. Static typing: Uses Go's type system with map[string]interface{} for flexibility
2. Error handling: More explicit error handling with proper error checks
3. Terminal handling: Uses golang.org/x/term instead of Ruby's io/console
4. Performance: Compiled binary is faster and has fewer runtime dependencies
5. Symbols: Ruby symbols (:cd, :mkdir) are replaced with strings ("cd", "mkdir")

Testing

Run basic functionality test:

go run try.go test_try.go

Run Go tests:

go test -v

Manual testing:

# Set up test environment
export TRY_PATH=/tmp/test-tries
mkdir -p /tmp/test-tries

# Create test directories
mkdir -p /tmp/test-tries/2025-01-15-redis-test
mkdir -p /tmp/test-tries/2025-01-14-postgres-test

# Test interactive selector
./try cd --path /tmp/test-tries

# Test from git repo
./bin/try worktree . test-from-repo

Implementation Details

UI Module

The UI module implements double-buffered terminal output with:

• Token-based styling system ({highlight}, {dim_text}, etc.)
• ANSI escape sequence handling
• TTY detection for graceful fallback
• Efficient screen updates (only redraws changed lines)

Scoring Algorithm

The scoring algorithm considers:

1. Match quality: Character-by-character matching with proximity bonuses
2. Time decay: Recently modified directories get higher scores
3. Name length: Shorter names score higher for equivalent matches
4. Date prefix: Directories with YYYY-MM-DD- prefix get bonus points

Git Integration

Supports multiple Git URI formats:

• https://github.com/user/repo.git
• git@github.com:user/repo
• https://gitlab.com/user/repo
• git@host.com:user/repo

Automatically generates directory names like 2025-01-15-user-repo.

License

MIT License